Study Sessions
by jayhogartismyangel
Summary: A study session at KC's house turns to a serious confession. Warning mentions of Darcy's rape last year KC/Claire


**Study Sessions**

**Small Warning: This is slightly angsty. It talks a bit about Darcy's rape.**

Claire Edwards sighed and slowly pulled the ponytail out of her hair,letting the silken strands fall freely past her shoulders. She sat on the floor with her legs crossed infront of her and her book in her lap. She and KC were at his house,studying for an English test. Neither Connor nor Alli could be there and KC's parents were out,so they were the only ones in the house at the moment.

"I can't believe we have an English test next week!" KC groaned,slapping his hand to his forehead lightly. He looked at her from his spot on his bed then said,"You know,you don't have to sit on the floor."

"I'm fine." Claire said with a soft moan of pain,reaching a hand behind her head to massage her aching neck.

"Here." He told her,taking her hand a pulling her into a sitting position on the bed. KC let his right hand gently massage the back of her neck as they studied. He hated seeing Claire in any sort of pain.

Claire was surprised by how great his fingers against her neck felt. It was soothing. She turned her head to look at him and gave him a shy smile that lit up her blue eyes. "Thank you,KC." She whispered,leaning up and pressing her warm lips against his cheek before turning back to her english book.

KC touched his cheek in surprise. A goofy grin forming on his face.

Claire turned and looked at him weirdly. Tossing her hair back over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow,she touched his hand with her own,stroking it. "KC?" She said his name worriedly,worrying her lower lip between her teeth nervously.

His head shot up at the sound of her voice and he snapped out of his daze,taking his hand away from his cheek. "Huh?" He asked cluelessly,finally looking her in the eyes.

"Y--you were acting weird." She told him,stuttering slightly.

KC could feel his cheeks heat up in embarrassement." 'You need to get control of yourself!' He told himself silently. "Oh." He said with a nervous laugh. "Sorry about that!"

"It's fine KC. I was just worried about you." Claire said,looking back down at her book to begin studying once more. But she couldn't concentrate. Sighing,she let her book fall to the floor with a thud and sprawled back on the bed,resting her eyes.

He looked at her. "You hungry? I can heat us up some lasanga and fix us some salads if you want me to."

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him with a smile on her lips. "That would be great." She said sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She watched KC set down his book and head out of the room. She followed him,feet padding against the floor as she walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. She watched with wide eyes as he skillfully prepared them each a small salad and then took out a small pan of lasanga,putting a piece each on two plates and microwaving them as he brought the salads to the table.

When the microwave beeped KC jumped up fromthe table and ran to get their plates out,bringing them and a can of Coke for each of them to the table. They ate slowly,each rather hungry. When they were done they washed their bowls,plates,and forks in the sink and took their Cokes back to KC's room so they could try to study again.

KC sighed. "I give up. I just can't concentrate at all. How about we watch television?" He asked,picking up his remote off the nightstand beside the bed and turning the tv on.

Claire raised her eyebrow as she saw the channel it was on, "Um...KC? Why would you watch Soapnet?" She asked,laying back on the bed with her feet in the air and her chin propped in her hand. She watched in amusement as a blush reddened her friend's face,neck,and ears. She smothered a giggle with her hand.

"Oh...hehe....well..." He stuttered in embarrassement.

"Do you watch soap operas?" She asked in shock,watching the show that was on at the moment.

KC looked down at his hands in shame and he shrugged rather helplessly.

She gave him a mischevious smile and jumped on the bed with a giggle. "Who'd have thought that KC Guthrie skateboard extraordinar would watch soap operas?" She asked playfully dramatic,not bothering to hide her laughter.

"Look,don't tell anyone,okay?" He said,sounding unsure of himself,very unlike his usual confident demeaner.

The smile fell from Claire's lips. "Look..it's nothing to be ashamed of." She told him,caressing his cheek. "It isn't...." She blushed. "It isn't as bad as being caught with a sex toy in school."

His lips curved into a grin as he remembered what had happened earlier that week. "You know,I was so surprised to know that you would have something like that. I mean....you don't even like to talk about undergarments as Alli would say." KC told her.

"Half the reason for that is because of what happened to my sister last year." She told him. Her voice suddenly changed from playful and happy to rather sad and dark. She looked at her friend and knew she could tell him anything. "Last year...last year my sister went on a Ski trip with Peter and her friends from school. A bunch of students were going. Anyway,my mom,dad,Darcy and I were supposed to go somewhere together for the weekend. Darcy pretended to be sick so she could go on the trip. Something...bad happened on that trip. She drank a bit too much and from what I understand,someone put roofies in her drink while she was in the bathroom." She stpopped talking and looked at KC.

"The date rape drug." KC whispered in realization.

Claire nodded,tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. "Anyway,Darcy didn't tell us for a long time. When we finally found out....it was after she tried to kill herself by jumping off the roof of the school."

KC let out a breath of air that he had been holding in beside her. "I had no idea that had happened. Did they ever find out who did it?" He asked hopefully.

She shook her head. "No. Darcy waited too long to tell and by that time the evidence was gone." Her voice suddenly became hard and cold. "That monster took something from her that she can't ever get back and he got away with it." She took the shoe off her foot asnd threw it across the room,falling back on the bed and burying her face in the pillow as her body shook with sobs.

KC pulled her up gently and hugged her to him. "I would _never_ let something like that happen to you Claire._ Ever._" He told her,stroking her long,tangled hair.

She pulled away from him,seeing the sincerity reflecting in his eyes. "I know. I know that I can trust you with anything." She whispered softly,giving him a small,shaky smile.

It was a smile that meant the world to KC though and he vowed he would never let anything happen that would tarnish that. What happened to Darcy would never happen to Claire. Slowly,KC leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her lips. It was a kiss that told Claire of his feelings for her,a kiss that showed just how much he cared.

And Claire couldn't be more grateful to have KC in her life.


End file.
